Well so much for me staying away for a week! I will have to say that I've been pretty good. All I've done is pop into a couple of forums and that's about it. It's amazing how hard it is to stay totally away.

This morning the kids and I tackled another recycling type project for our art wall. I call this a recycling project because someone could actually collect a bunch of popsicle sticks for this but we didn't. I've had a box of 1000 sitting around forever. I bought it years ago and we haven't put much of a dent into it. A little bit of paint, sticks, glue and 1/2 hr of time and this is what we came up with.

I'm trying to keep these projects simple enough so that we can do it in a short amount of time. I know if they're more involved the kids will get bored quickly and they'll want to move on to something else. We're not aiming for masterpieces. We're aiming to have fun together! :)

Little C's version - She had absolutely no interest in the project when she just saw the sticks. As soon as she saw me pull out some paints she jumped right in. She only needed a little help with the final gluing step. I placed each stick where she told me to put it.

My version - I cut the rounded tips off of my sticks. D told me I should have added more color so that my piece would look "as pretty" as theirs. lol.

D's version - He did this completely on his own and he says it's a satellite.

For any inquiring minds my new blog header is a photo that I took last week when we were out doing the tourist thing with our friends. We were on a restaurant balcony watching boats go by. Fun times.

I decided that I might as well use my latest stamp for a new card. I called it "quiet moment" because I just think that's the best way to enjoy a favorite hot drink - during a quiet moment with a good book, great company or during some alone time. I don't remember the last time I had the latter other than past midnight! These cards are now available on my sites.

A new order of linoleum is waiting to be carved. What to carve is the first question. When to carve is the second. There are orders to send, design work to complete, etc. etc. As far as the blocks are concerned, I'm leaning towards changing my direction a little. My sketchbook is full of abstract patterns/shapes that I'd like to try out. Stay tuned.

In the next couple of weeks, my blogging may be sporadic at best. To be honest, I'm going to try to go without using the internet for a full week or more. I have no idea if I have the willpower to do it but I'm simply too busy to not give it a shot. Wish me luck! :)

Whew! What a week. Unfortunately, I don't have anything new worth showing even though I was super busy. I finished the custom design cards for my friend's baby shower with a couple of changes from the last time I showed them. I kept looking at my prototype and something kept bothering me. I finally figured out that the block print looked more like a cup of hot chocolate or coffee to me. I cut out the dark part of the stamp and finally bought that Martha Stewart printed paper I'd seen to use as a background.

Other than work we've been busy entertaining friends that are in town. The last time we saw them was on our wedding day (10 yrs in August!). We're doing all the typical "touristy" things that you do when out of town people visit - among them visiting the NASA- Space Center. Needless to say the kids are having a blast.

If you have time for some more reading, yesterday I finally managed to post another interview on Crafty Synergy.

One more thing, for some reason blogger is only sending me sporadic email alerts when I get comments on my blog so if I haven't replied to any question out there please rest assured that I'm not ignoring you. I just haven't seen your comment. I'm trying to keep track of how many comments each of the recent posts have (fun!) but I'm sure something will slip by.

I mentioned the HOW conference and the fact that I would be mentioned as part of a session there. Well, I got a pleasant surprise in the mail today from Sheree Clark (the speaker). She sent me a couple of copies of the brochure that was handed out at during her session. If you click on the photo you can see it a little larger and clearer. The entire thing folds out to the size of a poster and it's such lovely eye candy.

Recognize anyone? I'm so glad I took the time to actually take a decent photo of myself! On the cover it's little ol' me surrounded by such amazing designer gods. The more I look at the whole thing the more I think 'what the heck is my work doing there?'!! The work of everyone that was featured is amazing!

Coincidentally, I was working on this piece yesterday. It's made with brown Canson paper. I think the slight texture this paper has gives it a special subtle touch. As with some of my other wall pieces, the back can be removed and the color of the wall will show through the negative space. This piece and the white trees will be available on my site tomorrow.

This is a custom design for a friend's tea/baby shower that will take place at the end of the month. The color of the photograph was a little difficult to adjust. The paper is a pretty salmon color (Martha Stewart) that is a little softer than the photo shows. The tea bag label is actually hanging from embroidery thread and features a little girl's dress. One done - 30-something more to go!

Speaking of Martha Stewart...I must have stood in front of her new line of products for an hour trying to figure out what I'd use for this project. I'm still considering another sheet of salmon branches that is very pretty and may help give this design a softer look... Actually I've made up my mind. I'm going to go get it now.

Can you believe this is the first time I buy patterned paper for a project? I'm the type that needs to reinvent the wheel and I can't seem to use someone else's designs. I know...weird.

Oh! Here it comes - my first complaint for the summer. It's TOO hot and it's only June!! :(

This is a little preview of new wall art that I'll be posting on my site next week. See? I told you that sometimes I'm all about color and other times I'm really into a more neutral look. Apparently this week it was all about white.

This is a little project that I thought of to work with the kids. After coming up with the junk mail art project I thought it would be fun to do a series of recycling projects. I figure they'll be fun to do with the kids during the summer. I bought three frames and I'll be rotating out what we work on as we do it.

These abstract pieces are made using water bottle caps, acrylic paint and glue. That's it. Very simple. Little C picked the colors for the colored versions. She picked colors that she likes (guess which ones?! - she's so into pink!) and she picked the ones that she thought D would like. D decided he wasn't in the mood for an artsy project.

All I told little C was to paint the caps with the colors she chose and she glued them on the piece of paper I gave her.

Here I just glued the caps as is to white paper.

I framed the pieces and voilá our empty wall has some art.

I think some interesting variations to this would be to spray paint the caps and the background with any color chosen. Even larger covers (like from jam or mayonnaise bottles) can be used for something this. I also tried using a punch hole to cut magazines spreads and placing the circles on the bottom of the caps. That's ok but it doesn't create as much impact as the paint.

We had a calm weekend and I had some time to figure out what new projects I'd like to work on next. I love to crochet and knit and I haven't done that in a while. I'm going to work on both simultaneously. I'll be knitting a blanket for our bedroom and ripple blankets for the kids. They picked out three colors each and I'm set to start.

I'm going to work on my blanket square by square (as in granny blankets) but I'm going to knit each square differently. I prefer very simple designs so I picked out this book from the library and I'm picking out my favorite patterns to piece together the blanket. I figure that by making squares I'll feel like I'm making more progress and they will be like small projects instead of one big one. My blanket will be an off white color. The one place I can't find myself to bring color to is our bed. It's all white.

This is a project in the making. I'll be ready to show it at the end of the week and it will be for the shop!

This is a small surprise I found when I was going to download photos. That's what you get when you teach your 4yr old to handle the camera and you leave it within reach. ;)

I finally got around to organizing the site so that I can offer not only individual cards but sets as well. I did have a couple of assorted sets but not sets of just one design. I've been meaning to this forever and just never seemed to get around to doing it. It's done. Feel free to poke around. By the way, I also added a custom set option. I know everyone has different tastes so make up your set of 6 cards and I'll send it on its way!

Remember the May drawing for a set of cards? The winner is Daniele from Maryland! Congrats! One of my assistants (aka little C) drew the name out of a hat - literally. We used one of her dolls' hats.

I'll be antsy this weekend because I have new ideas for block prints but I'm waiting for my order of linoleum to arrive. In the meantime I have some new wall art ideas I'd like to try and a fun little project to work with the kids.